November Notes

渐渐不觉得那么累，还兴致勃勃地想到处走走。可惜冬天日短夜长，又冷又刮大风，有时乌云下雨，两个小瓜也相续病了大半个月，出门的机会偏偏少了。靖恒和靖恺还是老样子：这阵子好像没什么注意他们，只管烦人的时候显得不耐烦，肆意地喊他们。靖恺进军厕所，总是趁我在洗衣服还是给靖恒冲凉时进去里面翻马桶盖，学大伙儿抽水。还有就是学靖恒尖叫，声音比靖恒的还刺耳。发脾气时躺在地上，或东歪西倒地撞墙撞地板，拿他没办法。靖恒则什么都在争第一，争先或最快，可能是跟男同学学的吧。再则就是叫他别做什么，讲到断气了还是好像听不懂/听不到似的，这就是所谓的耳边风吧。

“妈妈老爱唠叨，我还是设法寻找乐趣。。。


或是跟哥哥玩也不错。”


Monday & Thursday Playgroup at St Peter's Church:


Tuesday Women's Club:


Wednesday playgroup at Southside Community Education Centre (Sunshine Club):


Squashity squash


Christmas cheer at Princes Street and Christmas Tree Lighting at The Mound:


Wondering about Princes Street the following evening.
The Christmas Tree from Hordaland at The Mound:

German Market:

Marks & Spencer window display:

Jenner's window display:

Christmas Carousel for Ethan again:



Stirling Castle on St Andrew's Day Open Weekend.
Before the fog really came in:

The Great Hall:

Here comes the fog!

The Royal Chapel:

The world in white (alas, not by snow!):

The Great Kitchen:

The Stirling Castle as I remember from long ago starts here (without the fog):

Ethan met Jay here, who had just arrived with his parents and brother.

He wanted to stay here to wait for Jay, but we convinced him it would not really work out (unless they decided to forego the hall, the kitchen, the chapel, the museum and start with the outer walls first):

Walking past the garden (which is barren now):

The Palace, which was under refurbishment:

The fog was so thick we only got to see the tip of the Ochil Hills. The fog gave a very, well... British, dismal, ghostly atmosphere to the place:

Argyll's Lodging (which was also free admission during the Open Weekend):

Playing with the canon...

Stirling town and railway:


Knowing we are going back soon, the Malay family invited us over for lunch on Sunday. We missed the events at the museum, but Ethan had fun with Aiman and Jethro, well, Jethro also had fun. We had such a nice time that I am raring to try some Halal dishes and invite them over another day.


We tried to see if we could catch some events at the museum (Scotland's year-long Homecoming celebration finale was held at 27-30 November, 30 Nov being St Andrew's Day). But we missed it all - the music and the ceilidh.


Scottish Music at McEwan Hall. We stayed for 30 minutes out of the 1.5 hr of performance (7.30-9pm) because Ethan had gone to sleep and I was worried Jethro would. Jethro amazed me with his wide-awake eyes despite having only a 30 minute afternoon nap when I was bringing him to fetch Ethan from the nursery.


There are significantly fewer photos this month (apart from the few occasions when we went out) because it is getting harder to catch those flitting moments of happy or amusing flicks; because as the days get shorter, the days with the orange light grow longer, so the photos don't turn out so well under the dim lighting; because the kids are more clingy and whiny often than not. Still, I think they are quite neglected, I should be nicer. Despite their sometimes-difficult behaviours, I should also remember that Ethan does treat Jethro as a friend (along with Lorien, downstairs Robert, Ibrahim and others - he told me so), and Jethro is trying to play Ethan's games.